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Layering of a liquid metal in contact with a hard wall

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Abstract

When a liquid makes contact with a solid wall, theoretical studies1,2,3,4 indicate that the atoms or molecules will become layered adjacent to the wall, giving rise to an oscillatory density profile. This expectation has not, however, been directly verified, although an oscillatory force curve is seen for liquids compressed between solid surfaces5. Here we present the results of an X-ray scattering study of liquid gallium metal in contact with a (111) diamond surface. We see pronounced layering in the liquid density profile which decays exponentially with increasing distance from the wall. The layer spacing is about 3.8 å, which is equal to the repeat distance of (001) planes of upright gallium dimers in solid α-gallium. Thus it appears that the liquid near thewall assumes a solid-like structure similar to the α-phase, which is nucleated on freezing at lower temperatures. This kind of ordering should significantly influence flow, capillary osmosis, lubrication and wetting properties5,6, and is likely to trigger heterogeneous nucleation of the solid.

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Figure 1: Reflectivity of the Ga/diamond (111) interface as a function of perpendicular momentum transfer Q ⊥.
Figure 2: The top panel shows the best-fit model of the oscillatory in-plane averaged electron density profile as a function of the distance z along the interface normal.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Norris of the University of Leicester for introducing us to his technique of producing clean Ga droplets. We also acknowledge De Beers Diamond Research Laboratories of Johannesburg for the provision of the specimen and M. Rebak of the Schonland Research Center for polishing the crystal. This work is part of the research programme of the Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) and was made possible by financial support from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, Amsterdam, 1098, SJ, The Netherlands

    Willem Jan Huisman & Steven A. de Vries

  2. Schonland Research Centre for Nuclear Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, P.O. Wits, 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Trevor E. Derry

  3. European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, Grenoble Cedex, 38043, France

    Douglas Abernathy

  4. University of Amsterdam, Van der Waals-Zeeman Institute, Valckenierstraat 65, Amsterdam, 1018, XE, The Netherlands

    Joost F. Peters, Michel J. Zwanenburg & J. Friso van der Veen

Authors
  1. Willem Jan Huisman
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  2. Joost F. Peters
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  3. Michel J. Zwanenburg
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  4. Steven A. de Vries
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  5. Trevor E. Derry
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  6. Douglas Abernathy
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  7. J. Friso van der Veen
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Correspondence to J. Friso van der Veen.

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Huisman, W., Peters, J., Zwanenburg, M. et al. Layering of a liquid metal in contact with a hard wall. Nature 390, 379–381 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/37069

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/37069

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